


Spending Time with You

by SesuRescue



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accoutant!Aone, Alternate Universe - Office, Background Bokuto/Kuroo, Falling In Love, HQ Rarepair Bang 2020, Love Confessions, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secretary!Hinata, Slice of Life, developing feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:34:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23633920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SesuRescue/pseuds/SesuRescue
Summary: Aone is a new salaryman at Yanahama Company Accountants, and on his first day he meets Hinata Shouyou, the bubble secretary. As time passes, Aone and Hinata spend more time together through volleyball and other activities, and through it all, Aone doesn't notice but his friendly feelings towards Hinata turn into something else...
Relationships: Aone Takanobu/Hinata Shouyou
Comments: 15
Kudos: 29
Collections: HQ Rarepair Bang 2020





	1. New Job Feels

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was my second piece that I wrote for the Haikyuu Rarepair Bang, based on my love of AoHina! Unfortunately because of timing I wasn't able to finish this fic before the bang's end date, but I plan to release bi-weekly until it is finished! I'm guesstimating the total number of chapters here, but I think I'm pretty spot on haha.
> 
> My artist partner-in-crime this time is Lyn, a super great artist that, as usual, has to deal with my bullshit hahaha. Thank you so much for all your help and your wonderful illustration, Lyn! You'll see their art in Chapter 3, and you can find more of their art [ here on twitter! ](https://twitter.com/ixcarus_)
> 
> Last but not least, this work utilizes a work skin for image sizing so please make sure you are showing the creator's style when you are reading this work!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aone starts his first day at his new job and gets acclimated into the group through after work drinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I love office AUs, probably because of my love of slice of life with older protag hahaha. You can consider this an AU where Hinata has never met Aone, and after high school went to a two year college and starting working as a secretary. I guess you can also say it's an AU where Datekou and Karasuno never interacted while keeping everything else the same.
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy it!

Of all the ways to start his first day at Yanahama Company Accountants, Aone never guessed that it would be by ramming his head into the door frame of the office. 

He may not look like it on the surface, but behind Aone’s stoic expression lies a worrier. He worries about his grades, his height, his impressions on others. Usually, he only has to deal with one worry at a time, which he was more than well-equipped to deal with, but now and again his worries start to pile on and combine, making it harder to prioritize just what he should set his focus on and when. 

Case in point, today is the start of his new job. It’s not like the odd jobs he took over the summer to help out his family during the festival season with stocking merchandise and setting up stalls, but an actual job reflecting the past four years he spent studying in college. An accounting firm, small compared to other businesses around, but well-trusted and known enough to get a decent amount of business, not to mention that they were willing to hire him on.

It's a big deal and Aone wants to make a good first impression. Otherwise, the place that hired him will think they've made a mistake, a fear that, while he knows is unfounded, still eats at him. 

This worry follows him through the short walk from his apartment to the station and three stops on the train, and it’s even strong enough to drown out his constant woes about the painfully empty seats next to him. It follows him through the streets to the massive high-rise office building noted in his directions and even came along on the elevator ride to the twenty-sixth floor, where his new company was located.

Unfortunately, the worry continues to pursue, prompting Aone to peek through the glass window separating the elevator lobby from his new office to look for Kuroo-san, the HR representative listed in his hire papers that would be getting him settled, instead of paying attention to the layout of the office space, particularly to the lower than usual door frame. It happens almost in slow motion: he takes a step towards the empty secretary desk beyond the glass barrier, his body moves with the motion, propelling him forward through the doorway, and that pesky door frame finally makes its move, looming ever closer. If inanimate objects could talk, the door frame surely would say, “H-hey pal, you’re a little close, maybe duck your head—oh, ouch.”

The resulting collision is hard, causing Aone to stumble backward and hold onto his head as stars swim behind his eyelids. Tears prick at the corners of his eyes, but Aone wills them away, not wanting to embarrass himself even further after that absolute blunder. Faintly, he hears a confused voice approaching. 

“Did you hear that? What was that noise—GWAH!” The person makes a strange sound, prompting Aone to move his hand. He blinks away the lingering pain at his temples, eyes narrowing at the sudden splash of fluorescent light, and he looks down to see...a child?

The person in front of him is short, with wild red hair and a suit that looks a size or two too big for him, and even though the logical part of Aone tells him that this person is most likely an adult, he just can’t accept it, especially with the way the person is currently pressed back against the partition behind the secretary’s desk in fear. Did he do something wrong? He knows that he comes off as a little intimidating at first glance, but did that really garner this type of reaction?

“Huh, what’s up, Hinata?” Another--taller--person comes around the partition to survey the situation. He glances from the redhead to Aone, and his eyebrows shoot up into the bangs over one side of his face as he snaps his fingers. “Oh! You must be the newbie, right? I’m Kuroo Tetsurou, your HR contact. Nice to meet you.”

Oh! Aone nods once, bowing lowly from his waist. When he rises back to full height, he sees the redhead cautiously step away from the partition. He moves closer until he’s right in front of Aone, arms crossed over his chest as he stares Aone down. His eyes are like a black hole, threatening to swallow Aone into the brown abyss, but Aone is used to intimidation techniques: he’s quite good at them. Never one to back away from a good old-fashioned stare-down, Aone keeps eye contact with the redhead. 

After a few seconds, the tension breaks and the redhead lets out an irritated groan, completely offset by the smile on his face. “Gahh, you’re so huge! And you have no eyebrows?! I’m so jealous!!!” He bows fiercely. “I’m Hinata Shouyou, and I’m the secretary here! I look forward to working with you, and hopefully siphoning off your height little by little!” 

Aone can’t help but snort in amusement. He wasn’t expecting that reaction. This one would be one to look out for, he thinks. For now, he follows Kuroo around to the other side of the secretary desk, and after a quick nod to Hinata, they go into the main office area. 

It’s almost exactly what Aone expected a desk job office to look like. There are several rows of desks arranged about five deep on each side, with short, cubicle walls framing around the edges to separate them. Each row faces out, leaving an area for people to sit and work between two rows. Kuroo points out the area for the accountants, as well as gesturing to areas where the other departments sit. 

“I’m the only member of HR, so I have a prime desk on the other side of the floor. Oh, and marketing is behind a partition in their own space further that way. It gives them a place to focus and gives us a bit of peace.” Kuroo steps in close and stage-whispers to Aone. “Trust me, it’s a godsend.”

Next, they head to the break room, where Kuroo shows Aone where all the essentials are, such as extra eating utensils, tea, and cups. “There’s also coffee if you prefer to have that. We do ask that whoever brews it writes the time down, otherwise someone might end up drinking three-day-old coffee.” Kuroo shudders, which makes Aone wonder if he was the unfortunate recipient of such a fate.

“It was me,” Kuroo further clarifies as if reading Aone’s thoughts. “Never trust the coffee pot first thing in the morning after a long weekend, it’s not worth it.”

Aone gives a firm nod, which makes Kuroo rub his chin in thought. 

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

“Sorry,” Aone says, hanging his head. His mother always told him he was too silent, too stoic, and that he needed to loosen up a little if he wanted to go far in his career. It was just...difficult, being around strangers, knowing what to say and when to say it and how to navigate around his height which tended to be a major deterrent in getting most people comfortable with him. His club and classmates learned to work around him in high school, and he didn’t need to go out of his way to talk too much in college either, even in their final presentations. “If you need me to…”

“Nah, it’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Kuroo brushes him off easily with a laugh. “Figure no one will mind as long as you get your work done, right? Anyway, let’s introduce you to your--oh, Suga-chan!”

Kuroo waves to a small man with silver hair and a taller one with brown hair as they pass by the break room. They seem to be in an animated conversation, judging by the gesticulating paperwork in the shorter man’s hands, but they pause at Kuroo’s wave. “Me?” The silver-haired one asks, pointing to himself with the papers.

“Yeah, come here, come here,” Kuroo says, literally beckoning the man with a curled fist as if trying to get a cat’s attention. The man narrows his eyes at the motion but walks over anyway after a parting word to his coworker. He stops in front of Aone, and the two casually make eye contact. Unlike with Hinata, this man’s gaze isn’t as drowning, but it’s piercing all the same. It made him feel exposed, like he could see every fiber of Aone’s self like nutrition facts on a box. While unsettling, Aone also got the sense that this man was probably kind, or maybe it was just the beauty mark under his eye throwing him off.

“So--” The man starts, shifting his gaze to Kuroo. “Who’s this? New HR recruit?”

“Your kouhai, actually. This is Aone Takanobu, the new accountant.”

“Oh!” The man’s eyes widen and he gives Aone a wide smile. “Welcome! I’m Sugawara Koushi, I’ll be mentoring you, nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you,” Aone replies softly, bowing his head. Kuroo cackles, patting Aone’s shoulder with fast, light taps. 

“He doesn’t talk much, but he seems to be a good one! Make sure to teach him well, yeah? I’m leaving you in Suga-chan’s capable hands for now, but I’ll see you in a bit for orientation, alright?”

Kuroo takes his leave, and Aone stands awkwardly next to Sugawara as he disappears. 

“Aone-kun, do you dye your hair?” Sugawara asks suddenly. Aone shakes his head, prompting Sugawara to flash him a dazzling smile. “Neither do I, we’re light-haired pals!” 

Sugawara sticks out his fist, and Aone bumps it with his own, feeling a little lighter and less awkward than before. 

After showing Aone a few other features of the break room, including a secret drawer full of snacks (“Don’t tell Kuroo-san or the others,” Sugawara advises with a wink), the two head back into the office area. Sugawara leads him to his desk, which happens to be the farthest away from the window and the break room. The only upside about this desk placement, if it could be called that, was its proximity to the receptionist’s desk and the elevators. 

“To be honest, it’s kind of the worst seat for guys like us that need to focus,” Sugawara admits with a sheepish expression. “It has the most foot traffic from people coming in and out, and the elevator sounds are distracting. We usually designate this seat for the newbies, so we’ve all had to sit in it at some point. Think of it as training! If you can endure these conditions while learning, you’ll be able to calculate and spreadsheet through any natural disaster!”

Sugawara laughs, and Aone decides that he likes his new mentor. He’s friendly, doesn’t seem to mind that he’s quiet, and has a caring disposition that immediately calms Aone down from all the anxieties of being in a new job. The two of them spend the rest of the morning getting Aone set up with his new computer, mostly making sure that it connects to the internet successfully (it does) and that he can receive emails (which, unfortunately, he cannot, but it should only take a day or two, Sugawara insists). They put through the proper paperwork to get Aone access to other data he'll need, then Sugawara introduces Aone to more people around the office, including their supervisor, a kind older man with greying hair and a firm handshake, and a few of the other accountants in his row and the other row. There are so many names and introductions, Aone is almost afraid he'll forget his own name after this. 

When lunchtime arrives, Kuroo appears again, this time with a heavy folder.

“Whew, time just passes by, huh,” Sugawara sighs, stretching his arms out. He looks up at Kuroo. “Orientation time?”

“Yeah, time to get all the boring stuff out of the way,” Kuroo sighs, tapping the folder to his shoulder. “Ready, Aone-kun?”

Aone gathers his stuff, then follows Kuroo to a small conference room. It’s probably the most boring few hours Aone has had the pleasure to sit through, but he understands the importance of the information, which is the only thing stopping him from falling asleep. Kuroo teaches them about the company policy, the privacy practices they should adhere to in their work, and the security steps they should take to keep their customers safe. They talk about conflicts of interest and other important yet boring topics, and finally near the end of the discussion Kuroo takes him through the perks of their job, like paid time off and company holidays.

Finally, near the end of the day, the slideshow ends and Aone takes a collective sigh of relief. “Congrats, you’ve made it through the second hardest day of your new career,” Kuroo says. “The first is business keigo lessons, and that’s next week. Good work!”

Aone gathers his stuff and prepares to leave, but as he passes by his desk Sugawara calls out to him. “Aone-kun! Got any after-work plans?”

“I don’t.”

Sugawara grins. “Perfect! Let’s celebrate your new employment with a few drinks, okay? A few of the guys already went ahead of us, so let’s go!”

Aone allows himself to be half-dragged out of the office by Sugawara, thankful that his father had schooled him on common work culture etiquette, especially about going with his coworkers for drinks after work. He deliberately didn’t make any plans for the night to make sure he’d be free, but it’s not like he knew enough about the surrounding city to plan anything anyway. 

When they arrive at the izakaya, a cacophony of sounds assault their eardrums as soon as they enter. Straight after work must be prime drinking hour, Aone guesses, based on the number of business suit jackets hastily thrown over the backs of chairs and folded on sitting cushions. Aone’s not sure how they could find anyone in this crowd, but Sugawara lightly pulls him along, darting through the sea of people. Unfortunately, Aone is not as nimble, and he flushes in embarrassment as he crashes into shoulders and nearly topples over drinks. When they finally halt in front of a low table along the wall, it takes a second for Aone to compose himself before he recognizes the long brown-haired man from before. 

Sugawara properly introduced them earlier, but in all the rush Aone doesn’t remember his name. Did it start with an A?

“Azumane Asahi,” he says, looking up and holding his hand out to Aone. “You looked like you needed some help,” Azumane adds with a small smile. 

Embarrassed again, Aone shakes his hand, adding in a quiet ‘nice to meet you’, even though he’s most likely already done it earlier. Meanwhile, Sugawara hops down onto the cushion beside Azumane and taps the table excitedly. “A-sa-hi," he sings, pointing to the glass on the table, "Is this mine?” 

“Mm, yeah. Daichi went to order more drinks, but we know how you are so we got yours first.” 

Sugawara titters in excitement and grabs the glass. He raises it, performing an imaginary toast before bringing it to his mouth. 

“Aone-kun, you can sit, you know,” Azumane laughs, patting the cushion positioned at the side of the table. He waits for Aone to sit, then moves in closer to whisper. “Koushi, Daichi, and I go out to drink maybe once a month, and Koushi’s always the first one to get drunk.”

Aone glances over to Sugawara, who’s still downing the glass of beer, and notes a very faint tinge of pink already dotting his cheek.

“Tragic, isn’t it?” Azumane says louder, with humor in his voice as he moves back into his place. “You’d think he would be the responsible one now that he’s a mentor.”

“Hey!” Sugawara glares over the rim of his half-empty glass. “I am so responsible! I also just really like to enjoy the company of my coworkers, especially my brand-new kouhai! Oh, Daichi, excellent timing!” He grins at the new person that’s joined their table, one that Aone remembers meeting earlier as well. Sa...Sawa…?

As Aone searches his memories for a family name, the dark-haired man places a tray of drinks on the table and distributes them out. “Not sure what you like, but try this,” he says to Aone, placing a dark-colored drink in front of him. Aone looks up to thank him, and suddenly he recalls the man's name. Sawamura, right. He has that type of energy that Aone usually attributes to figures of authority, so it had been easier for Aone to prioritize remembering his name in all the rush. 

"Let's give it up for Aone-kun's first day of work," Sawamura says, raising his drink. "May he work hard and not get burnt out by his third year."

"Hear hear!" Sugawara chimes in, clinking his glass to Daichi's with a whoop. Azumane and Aone join in, knocking their glasses together in such a way that the beer threatens to spill over the rim.

After that, they dissolve into drinking and chatting, with mostly Sugawara ganging up on Aone and asking him question after question about himself and Sawamura occasionally leaving and coming back with more drinks. Aone talks more than he ever has in an entire day, telling them about his parents and younger siblings, his volleyball club days in high school (something that they all shared in common), and his college days. 

Right as he’s finishing up an embarrassing tale about a test of courage gone wrong and the subsequent few weeks in a cast, Sugawara slams his glass down, making the rest of them jump. “Oh man, you’re a riot, Aone-kun!” Sugawara hiccups, giggling as he slowly lowers his head down to rest against the table. “Mmmm, the table feels so nice.”

Sawamura sighs, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers. “There he goes again. What am I going to do with him?” He gives Aone a small smile. “I saw some other people from the office closer to the bar, and I know they’ll give me hell if I don’t go say hello. Why don’t you come with me?”

Aone hesitates, looking back at Sugawara. Is he going to be okay? Aone wouldn’t want to leave him if he’s feeling sick. He asks as much to Sawamura, who pats him on the shoulder. 

“Don’t worry, he’s just drunk. He may be docile now, but he gets... unpredictable like this. Asahi is the best equipped to handle him.”

“Oh yeah, I’m used to this,” Asahi says, relinquishing his hand to Sugawara when he bats at it. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll keep Koushi occupied.” 

Aone gets up with Sawamura and follows him, glancing back once more to make sure everything is still okay at the table. Azumane offers a wave with his free hand, the other occupied by Sugawara plopping his face onto it. It’s an entertaining scene, and it reassures him that all will be well. 

Sawamura leads them to a standing table in the thick of the crowd, and there Aone spots Kuroo, the small orange-haired man from earlier (Hinata, he thinks?), and a third man with spiky silver-tipped hair. Kuroo notices them first and waves them over. “Dai-channn, finally you’ve come to say hello! We missed you!” 

“You see me every day at work, how much could you really miss me,” Sawamura scoffs playfully. He claps Kuroo hard on the shoulder, then lightly pushes him aside. “Move, make room for Aone-kun and me.”

They adjust to allow Sawamura and Aone into the table, but even so, it’s a tight fit. Aone finds himself squished up against Hinata, who squints up at him over his glass. “We meet again, Aone-kun! You’re still as tall as earlier!”

“Did you think he would shrink?!” Kuroo guffawed. 

“N-no, but!!”

Kuroo laughs even harder, leaning into the man next to him. Said man ‘hmms’ loudly, fixing Aone with a calculating stare. He crosses his arms with no small amount of bravado while still making sounds of intrigue, cricking his neck from one side to the next to fully size Aone up. He kind of remains Aone of an owl, from his strangely styled hair to the mannerisms, and it takes a large part of his slowly dwindling self-restraint to refrain from giggling.  
  
“You ARE tall, aren’t you!” The man finally says. He nods to himself as if he cracked the code to a secret hideout. “I bet you’d be great at volleyball!”

“Middle blocker,” Aone responds.

The silver-haired man’s eyebrows raise in surprise, then he grins. “No shit? That’s awesome! You’ll have to play volleyball with us sometime! Oh, I’m Bokuto Koutarou, nice to meet you!”

They shake hands, and while Aone goes to take another drink, Kuroo says, “Bo works in Marketing, so you might run into him.”

“Yeah, especially if you visit Kuroo, I’m always there harassing him at his desk. Just one of the many benefits of our Best Friends with Benefits status,” Bokuto adds on with a wink, causing Aone to choke on his next sip. 

Luckily, Sawamura has his hand on Aone’s back in an instant, thumping the liquid out of his airways while glaring down Bokuto and Kuroo. “For the love of--Stop calling your marriage that!” He barks over Kuroo’s hyena laugh and Hinata’s fist against the table. 

“But the tax benefits!” Bokuto laughs before sipping his beer. Through the fading tears in Aone’s eyes, he finally sees the ring on his finger, as well as the matching one on Kuroo’s hand. It’s surprising, only because usually most same-sex couples keep their relationship quiet in more open areas where they’re more liable to face public opinion, but from what little he knows of Kuroo (and now Bokuto), he’s sure they don’t care. 

The rest of the night passes faster than Aone realizes. Kuroo and Bokuto dominate the conversation, pulling them from one topic to the next so fast it gives Aone whiplash, though it might just be because his head is filled to the brim with cotton candy and fluff. He learns so much about the others in such a short amount of time, like exactly how Kuroo prefers the sausages in his bento box cut and Hinata and Bokuto's casual quest to start a t-shirt business of volleyball quotes. He tries his best to keep up with their flow but it's difficult, and even Sawamura gives up and leaves at some point during a discussion on horse-sized sea urchins to check on Sugawara and Azumane.

Aone isn't sure how they're doing it, but between the three of them, they seem to be producing some sort of drunken feedback loop that keeps the table energized, increasingly raising their volume and rowdiness until one of the bartenders has to come over to quiet them down. On the flip side, Aone feels more tired than usual and reckons it must be some strange drunken alchemic exchange at work. 

Despite his valiant losing fight to staying conscious, Aone finds that he doesn't want to leave yet. He enjoys being with people that like his company, and isn't keen on going back to his empty apartment just yet, or being avoided on the train. However, it only takes a few instances of him jerking to attention from nodding off right where he stood for Kuroo to notice and switch into 'responsible' mode, cutting him off for the night and escorting him (despite multiple reassurances from Aone that he was sober enough to get home safely) to the train station. 

"See you tomorrow, Aone-kun. Don't forget to drink water when you get home or you might wake up with a nasty hangover," Kuroo calls through the closing doors after ushering Aone onto his train home. 

Aone doesn't need the babysitting, but he appreciates someone looking after him, especially in a new city. He makes it home without too much incident and goes to sleep. It isn't until he wakes up in the morning with a dry mouth and a killer headache that he realizes he forgot Kuroo's instruction. Oops. 


	2. Volleyball Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata invites Aone to a friendly game of volleyball with friends, and Aone learns something new about him.

Other than the difficult morning after his welcome at the izakaya, Aone gets through the rest of the week with no issue. He’s successfully managed to get his email together and has started poring through the documents available to him per Sugawara’s guidance. The work feels a little over his head each time he looks at a new document, and it’s hard to understand all of the terms and lingo that the company uses. “You’ll get used to it,” Sugawara says one day after explaining the meaning of an abbreviation. “It’s annoying now, but it’ll save you time later, promise.”

Aone isn’t so sure he agrees with Sugawara just yet, but his smile is just so convincing Aone can’t contradict him. 

It’s Friday morning when Aone is stopped by a cheerful Hinata on his way to his desk. Actually... Has he ever not seen Hinata happy and smiling in the week he’s been working?

“Aone-kun!” He greets with a big wave. “Congrats on making it through your first week! How does it feel?”

Taking a moment to move out of the doorway, Aone furrows his forehead to think. How does he feel about everything? Overwhelmed? There are so many new things to learn and he keeps thinking that somewhere he’ll mess up, and soon they’ll figure out he’s a sham, kicking him out the door with nothing to show he was even there. However, there’s also excitement in seeing how he’ll grow as he learns and what he can contribute to the company the longer he’s there. A little bit of confusion over the work culture as a whole, fondness over his coworkers who he hopes he can one day call his friends…

“A lot,” Aone finally says with a sigh. Hinata laughs in response.

“That’s a common feeling, especially in your first week! It usually passes quickly though, so try not to worry too much.”

Aone nods, relief already seeping into his nerves. He’s not sure what it is, but Hinata telling him not to worry just makes him instantly feel better. Maybe it has something to do with the too-large-for-him suit.

“Oh, by the way, are you busy this weekend, Aone-kun?” When Aone shakes his head, Hinata’s grin turns even brighter. “Perfect! Do you want to play volleyball tomorrow around noon-ish? Bokuto and I were talking about getting people together for a three v three, and I think it’ll be awesome if you joined!”

Aone instantly agrees. He hasn’t had a chance to play volleyball since he started interviewing for jobs in the latter half of last year, and he’s been itching to play ever since. The Curse of Volleyball, Futakuchi said to him once. Once you start playing and get good at it, it’s hard to quit no matter what. 

In any case, Aone is excited to play against someone new, but something’s still bothering him. “You play volleyball, Hinata-san?”

“Wha—yeah, of course, I do! Why else would I be inviting you to play?” 

Okay, he’s got Aone there. But what’s Hinata actually going to do? Isn’t it weird playing three on three with a libero? He asks Hinata, who instantly flushes red and grinds his teeth together. 

“Grrr, just cause I’m short—!! I’m not a libero! I play middle blocker!”

Aone’s jaw drops. This short person, a middle blocker? He looks down—literally looks down since Hinata is sitting—and he’s convinced that Hinata must be full of shit. Aone knows he’s taller than average, but there’s no way Hinata could be a blocker. He’s way too short. He hums in disbelief, and Hinata huffs, looking away from Aone to type angrily at his keyboard. “You don’t believe me, but you’ll see tomorrow. I might be short, but I can jump high, dammit.”

Is—is he sulking? Aone opens his mouth to apologize, but he doesn’t know what to say. He can’t say that he believes him, because he doesn’t. For now, he bows his head to Hinata and continues to his desk. 

At lunchtime, Aone flags down Sugawara on his way to the break room to grab his bento from the fridge. “Oh, Aone-kun, what’s up?” 

Aone falls in step beside him, explaining the encounter with Hinata from the morning. When he’s done and nearly red-faced from talking so much, Sugawara bursts into cackling laughter, which seems so strange coming from him. To Aone’s surprise, he doesn’t stop laughing and continues all the way back to his desk. Sawamura and Azumane look up from their work and give Aone twin looks of confusion, which he can only offer a shrug in return. He doesn’t think what he said was so funny…

“Dai, Asahi, oh my god. Aone thought Hinata was a libero. I wish I was there to see Hinata’s face!” Sugawara gets out in between bouts of laughter. Sawamura’s expression turns to one of surprise, and he glances at Aone. 

“Okay, to be fair, Hinata-kun does look like he would play libero,” Azumane says, jumping to Aone’s defense with half-raised hands. “It’s very uncommon for players of his height to play anything else.”

Sawamura nods. “You’re not wrong, but there’s just something so strange trying to imagine Hinata as a libero.”

“He would’ve sucked at it,” Sugawara wheezes.

Aone wonders if these three are just all in cahoots to make fun of him, but he knows that Sawamura is too responsible to do that, and Azumane is too nice. But still, a middle blocker… he can’t conceptualize it. Sawamura gets up to throw his trash away and on the way places a hand on Aone’s shoulder. “Wait until you see him play, then you’ll understand,” he says with a wink.

  
  


The next day, Aone wakes up early, puts on his tracksuit, and goes out for a light jog. He has no idea where he’s going, but eventually, he runs into a small trail leading through the suburbs. He keeps his head up, dodging elderly walkers and power walking mothers with strollers, all of whom stare at him with looks ranging from curiosity to fear, and he vows to look for a trail in a less populated area. He isn’t fond of all the people around, and the narrow streets prevent him from really letting loose and getting into a good run. While he’s at it, he should probably find a good gym too. Unfortunately cardio doesn’t help keep up his muscle mass; he’ll need weights for that.

When he figures he’s done enough running to warm up his muscles, Aone heads back to his apartment to grab the rest of his gear, then takes the train to the location Hinata scribbled on a sticky note to him. It’s not too far from his apartment so he got there pretty early, but somehow he was still the last person there. He recognizes most of the people there in various states of stretching—Hinata, of course, as well as Bokuto, Kuroo, and Sugawara—but the last person is a new face to him... That is, if he could see their face past the large scarf around their neck. 

The person tilts their head up at Aone and somehow their eyes convey that they’re scowling. They stare at Aone for a brief moment, before turning to Hinata. “Why did you drag me out here,” they say, crossing their arms. “It’s too cold to play!”

“You’re the one who came out,” Sugawara comments in a sing-song voice from the ground.

Hinata tilts his head, looking all too comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts. “It’s not too bad. We’ve played in colder weather before. Oh, Aone-san, this is Oikawa. He’s got a bad attitude but he’s mostly all bark.”

Oikawa looks affronted by the remark, but Bokuto cuts him off with a large sigh. He links his arms with Kuroo, and the two start some partner stretches. “I wanted Kaa-chan to come, I love when he sets for me! But he said—” Bokuto scrunches up his face and lowers his voice— “‘Bokuto-san, my weekends are a break from you. See you Monday.’, then he hung up!” 

Aone notes Sugawara trying to hide a laugh out of the corner of his eye as Kuroo pipes up from behind Bokuto. “Kenma didn’t even give me a reason, he just left me on read. Our friends are such assholes.”

“So I was the last pick,” Oikawa states with a huff.

“You might’ve not been the first pick or the second…” Hinata trails off in thought, and Aone wonders just where he’s planning on going from here. He can’t see Oikawa’s expressions too well, but Aone can tell that he’s thinking the same thing. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter when we picked you!” Hinata finally says. “You’re obviously the best pick because you’re here, and you’re really good! Why else would you have the title ‘Great King’?!”

Oikawa’s body language loosens, and he runs a hand through windswept hair. “I  _ am  _ pretty great, aren’t I?” Aone catches Sugawara rolling his eyes, but Oikawa misses it as he tosses his scarf off in a dramatic manner. “Okay, let’s get going then! What are the teams?”

“I call Bokuto-san!” “I want Chibi-chan!” 

Hinata and Bokuto shout at the same time, pointing at one another. They stand side by side with matching grins, and Sugawara steps in line beside them. Oikawa frowns. “No way, you guys are too offensive heavy. Hinata, you should switch.”

“No way, I want to play against Aone-kun!” Hinata protests. “I need to show him how good I am!”

“And Bokuto and I can’t be on the same team, remember?” Kuroo adds with a shrug. “Still don’t get it.”

“It’s cheating!” Hinata says.

Oikawa hums, eyes narrowing. He taps his foot impatiently against the ground as he thinks, but eventually shrugs. “Whatever, we’ll still win anyway so it doesn’t matter.” He smirks when Hinata seethes, and Aone is instantly reminded of Futakuchi. 

Oikawa waves Kuroo and Aone over to a spot away from the other three, then drills Aone for his history. “What are you good at? How’s your blocking, and don’t tell me bad because you can’t be bad at blocking with your height.”

“Read blocking,” Aone responds, and Kuroo visibly brightens.

“That was your school’s specialty, right? He went to Datekou, apparently,” Kuroo explains to Oikawa. For a second, Aone doesn’t remember when he gave that information to Kuroo, but then he remembers that if he didn’t volunteer it during their drinking night, then Kuroo must’ve read it from his resume. 

The wind picks up a bit, causing Oikawa to shiver in his scarf before replying. “We’ll use that to our advantage. I’ll tell you now, but that shrimp is good at playing a decoy, so don’t fall for it. He also jumps higher than you’d think.” 

“Okay,” Aone says.

“Bokuto is easier to read, but sometimes he’ll do something completely unexpected because he forgets what he wants to do. Luckily I’m his husband, so I know exactly how to read him,” Kuroo snickers. “Putting us on opposite teams is the actual cheating, but I’ll never tell.” He and Oikawa share a knowing smirk.

Aone gets the feeling that these two take advantage of this rather often. In the end, it’s not his business, so he elects not to think about it too much. 

Besides, how can he worry about that when he needs to focus on not messing up and embarrassing himself in front of his coworkers. They’ve all played with each other for a while, he suspects, based on the comfortable atmosphere around them. Aone is the odd man out, he doesn’t know exactly what to expect from Kuroo’s blocking or Oikawa’s setting. Even with a practice match or two, it takes time to build a court relationship with teammates, and Aone takes a lot longer in that regard compared to others. He knows that this is all just for fun and recreation, but what if he messes up?

Oikawa leans in close to Aone and lowers his voice to speak. “Hey, I can’t really tell because of the lack of eyebrows, but you seem worried.”

Aone nods, because what point is there in trying to hide it at this point?

Huffing, Oikawa steps back into a more reasonable distance. “Well, cut it out, this isn’t nationals, just a dirty park out in the suburbs. Not much at stake here, except our pride.” His glare softens a bit, and he pats Aone’s shoulder. “Besides, I’m not worried. You went to Datekou, right? That’s a strong school, so I have faith in your abilities.”

Oh. Maybe there was more to this Oikawa than meets the eyes. 

Oikawa walks over to the net, but stops halfway through and turns back to Aone. “One more thing,” He half-yells. “If you mess up, I’ll never play with you again!”

Aone snorts to himself as the rest of the group yells at Oikawa for his remarks. A little unorthodox, but it did help Aone relax. It’s just a game: no real winning or losing, just a little fun on the weekend.

Once both teams reconvene at the net, they confirm that the first match will be a practice one up to five points, then they flip a coin to see who receives first. It lands in favor of Hinata’s team, so Aone prepares to receive with Kuroo. Sugawara serves first, a solid hit that isn’t quite that strong or fast but has enough accuracy to get Kuroo scrambling to return it. He gets it into the air, and Aone looks to Oikawa for guidance. Will it go to him, or Kuroo?

“Aone-kun!” Oikawa shouts.

Aone spurs into action, covering the distance easily with his long legs, and jumps to spike. The block on the other side is there waiting for him, but Aone isn’t worried. He’s had a lot of experience going up against walls, and this one isn’t nearly as intimidating as what he’s faced in school. His hand collides with the ball with a  _ smack,  _ smashing through the small opening between Hinata and Sugawara to score a point. 

“Yes!” Kuroo punches the air victoriously. “Take that!”

Pride wells in Aone. He loves blocking above everything else, but there’s always something special about spiking too. 

Oikawa goes back to get into position for serving, and Kuroo tugs on Aone’s sleeve. 

“Move a little this way, you don’t want to be in the path of his serve.”

Confused, Aone follows Kuroo’s instructions, taking a few steps to the left. Even more curious, he sees Sugawara and Bokuto move closer to the back. Just what kind of serve does Oikawa have? 

The answer, Aone learns, is a terrifying type of serve. One moment, he’s scratching the side of his face while he waits. Oikawa tosses the ball up somewhere behind him. He blinks, then the next moment he’s watching the other team dive for the ball. That was...fast. Very fast. Too fast for an average player. Aone turns to Kuroo with a look that says: ‘Are you seeing this shit? What the fuck was that?'

Kuroo doesn’t return his look, but he does grin in response. “Yep, that’s the Grand King Oikawa’s killer jump serve. You don’t want to be on the other side of that.” Aone shivers. 

Unfortunately for them, Oikawa’s serve went out of bounds, so they are currently tied with one point each. Aone gets into position, and he quickly takes stock of the other team. Ever since high school, Aone’s been able to pick out the ace in any group, and he’s used that ability to pay more attention to them, mostly to put pressure on their spikes with his blocking. His eyes instantly lock onto Bokuto, and he resists the urge from glaring him down. He’s the one to watch.

Aone tears his gaze away to pay attention to the game. Hinata serves the ball over the net cleanly to Aone, and he gives it to Oikawa. This go-around Oikawa uses Kuroo to score, but Hinata gets under the ball just in the nick of time. He sends it to Sugawara and, anticipating Bokuto getting the ball, Aone takes a step towards him to block. 

Sugawara sends the ball up, but not in the direction Aone was expecting. He tosses it to Aone’s left, but there’s no one there to catch it. It’s curious, causing a split delay in Aone’s reflexes as he tries to puzzle it through, but then he sees it. A flash of red, then Hinata is there, so high in the air that Aone thinks he might just sprout wings and fly off. His eyes and grin are so bright that Aone is transfixed, almost forgetting they’re in a game and that he needs to stop the spike. Luckily his body is used to moving when his head is a little behind, and he gets beside Kuroo just in time to bounce the ball off his fingertips, sending it spinning off the court. 

Aone rubs his face as if he can’t believe what he just saw. People that small didn’t usually jump that high, right? 

He hears Hinata call his name, and he cracks open an eye to see his smirk up at him from the net. “I told you I could jump, didn’t I?” He says with a teasing lilt. “Now that you’re done underestimating me, are you ready to play for real?”

Aone wouldn’t say he was underestimating Hinata, but he wasn’t taking his claims to their full value until now. Bokuto is the ace, there’s no doubt about that, but Hinata seems to be a formidable force on his own. It’s interesting, and Aone is getting kind of pumped to see what comes next. He gestures at Hinata, two fingers at himself before pointing one at Hinata, and Hinata laughs. “You’re on!”

The rest of the practice match passes without incident or anything of note. Aone’s team takes the first win, mostly because of the sheer force of their blocking. They win the first ‘official’ match too, though the other team didn’t make it easy. Hinata was a fantastic decoy, tricking Aone into jumping early or in the wrong direction despite the warning from Kuroo earlier. Not only that, but he was also fast, sprinting from one area of the court to the next with no effort. 

Bokuto wasn’t as fast, but he hits hard when the ball comes his way. His straight spikes were great on their own, but his crosses were deadly, and on multiple occasions, the ball would just slip through his body and the net. 

They play a few more matches, evening out the wins a little so the other team is just one win behind Aone’s. He finds himself getting more comfortable between Kuroo and Oikawa, even managing to pat Oikawa on the back after one particularly good spike by him. (Unfortunately, Aone forgets his strength sometimes and accidentally sends Oikawa to the ground.)

By the time they’re finished for the day, Aone feels like there’s more water on the outside of his body than inside it. He pulls the edge of his shirt—the driest part of his clothing by far—up to his face to wipe off the sweat dripping down his forehead. The wind blows over his sweat-soaked skin, sending a rather big shiver through his body. Right, with all the jumping and activity Aone forgot it was seriously cold out. 

“I forgot to tell you to bring a change of clothes,” Hinata says, causing Aone to freeze in alarm. When did Hinata get beside him? 

He shrugs, pushing his shirt back down. The train station wasn’t too far away from their location, so he could probably get home and out of the cold before catching a cold. He looks over at Hinata. Hinata’s breath is still a little heavy from all the exertion and his ears are a shade lighter than his hair from the temperature. It’s almost hard to believe that this was the same person nearly clearing the net with his jumps. 

Clearing his throat, Aone juts his hand out in Hinata’s direction. Hinata glances down at it before looking up at Aone in confusion. “I was wrong,” he says firmly. “You were good. Really good.”

Hinata considers Aone’s words, then he grins. Somehow this one feels stronger than Hinata’s other smiles. Aone almost feels like he shouldn’t gaze at it head-on for fear of damaging his eyes. Hinata takes his hand and shakes it firmly, and Aone manages a half-smile in return. 

“Alright!” Sugawara yells, clapping his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s clean up and get out of here. It's too cold to hang around."

The others answer in a chorus of ‘Yes, mom’. Hinata lets go of Aone’s hand and together they all clean up their discarded clothes, water bottles, and spare volleyballs. When Sugawara deems it clean enough, they all take off towards the train station except for Bokuto and Kuroo, who live close to the park. Aone bids farewell to Hinata and Sugawara, taking the opposite line with Oikawa. Despite the morning of volleyball together, they’re both still strangers, so the ride is silent, but not uncomfortably so. Aone’s stop comes, and he waves to Oikawa before heading home. He instantly strips off his sweaty clothes when he enters his apartment, tossing them on the washing machine before ducking into the bathroom for a shower and maybe a nice long soak for his muscles. 

Once he’s in the bath, Aone goes over the volleyball games from today. Thankfully he was still in good condition because man, they were all amazing players in their own right. And Hinata…

Aone replays Hinata’s jumps, and Bokuto’s spikes, and Sugawara’s tosses behind his eyelids, and it’s only half an hour later when the water starts to cool that he realizes he drifted off.


	3. The Sunshine Curse and the Hanami Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azumane talks of curses, and Aone helps Hinata with some logistics of the company picnic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art in this chapter was made by the awesome Lyn!

After a few weeks of working, Aone finally feels like he's starting to understand more of the company and his role in it. He works more with Sugawara, at first just shadowing him as he worked, to recently being able to go through the calculations together and sanity checking each other to make sure the numbers are correct. From what Aone understands of his job, his team works primarily on giving financial advice to smaller companies, helping with things that range from figuring out the costs of opening a new location to reducing a company's debt over the year to increase their earnings. 

Azumane is the busiest of the bunch by far. His ear is nearly always to a headset and his desk is surrounded by discarded coffee cups as he flicks through pages of spreadsheets on his monitor. At one point, Aone swears he saw a whole coffee pot on Azumane's desk in the morning, and by the time lunch came around it was empty. 

On the other hand, Sawamura is rarely on the phone and instead goes out to meet with his clients for coffee and over lunch. From what Aone understands, Sawamura usually deals with companies that have been with their financial office for a while, so they've had a chance to build up a rapport with each other. Aone thinks Sawamura's amazing for it, half because he has such a strong ability for getting closer to others, and the other half for being able to talk in such humble language for so long. 

Sugawara handles whatever the other two can't take on, usually quick hits that only take him a few days at most, which gives Aone a nice full view of what he can expect once he starts getting his own clients. 

In terms of the office, Aone finally feels comfortable in the space. He doesn’t jump at the loud voices—Just the one voice, actually.—of the marketing team when they pass through for lunch outside, and he even gets into small conversations with Sawamura and Azumane when they aren’t busy. 

Surprisingly, after their first volleyball hangout session, Aone has gotten closer with Hinata. They chat—well, Hinata chats at him—more in the morning and afternoon other than exchanging the normal office pleasantries. When they don’t chat, Aone finds himself following Hinata’s movements from his desk out of the corner of his eye while he works. At first, Aone just thought Hinata was the clumsiest person on Earth from the massive amount of times he managed to drop papers, office supplies, and phone calls. Aone...still thinks Hinata is very clumsy, but then he remembers the Hinata from volleyball, the fiery force that ran the court like he’s been living on it his entire life. 

With that new perspective in place, it’s easy for Aone to see that Hinata’s blunders are mostly him trying to react like he would in volleyball. He swears once he even saw Hinata try to bump a stapler that fell from his grip, with unfortunate results. 

Today, Aone is with him on a coffee break in the break room. At first, Aone wasn’t sure if he could hang out with Hinata like this during the mid-morning, but Hinata waved him off.

“No one comes in at this hour, so it’s fine,” he says, leaning against the coffee counter. “Besides, I need a break from all the polite speak.”

Aone hums in agreement: he barely likes speaking on a good day, nevermind the polite way he’s expected to speak to customers. Thankfully he hasn’t had any customers to need it for yet, but Sugawara and Azumane keep stressing the importance of it, going as far as to force Aone to use the speech in some of their conversations. 

“It’s just so itchy, you know?”

“Itchy,” Aone parrots. Not the word he’d use for it, but he can see the appeal. 

“Yeah, like, it gets under your skin,” Hinata says, taking a swig of his coffee. “I get the usefulness of it, but gahhhh it’s just so old, you know? Like—” He stiffs up his shoulders and frowns—“‘If it’s not too much trouble, could you please be so kind as to give me your company’s information?’ I sound ridiculous!” 

There’s something about the juxtaposition of Hinata, who looks young and small enough to be early high school, talking formally that gets to Aone, and the stoic persona he’s known for falls apart as he barks out the loudest laugh. He tries to catch himself, putting his hand over his mouth like that would cover all of his previous actions from the past five minutes, but Hinata stares at him wide-eyed with sparkling eyes.

“Woah, was that a laugh? I’ve never heard you do anything that loud before!” Hinata exclaims with a grin, slapping Aone’s arm excitedly. “Do it again! Again!”

Blushing, Aone shakes his head quickly. Why would he do something so embarrassing again? He’s barely even laughed that loud with his friends, except under extreme circumstances. Hinata continues to try and convince Aone to laugh, and Aone refuses, blush growing deeper the longer Hinata pesters him. 

Finally, a savior comes in the form of Azumane with an empty mug. “Hinata, are you bothering Aone-kun?” He asks, looking between the two of them. 

Hinata gasps, offended. “Rude! No, I’m just trying to get him to laugh again. You missed it, he was all—GWAHA! It was amazing! Aone-kun, you gotta do it for Asahi-kun!”

“Shouldn’t you be getting back to the front, Hinata?” Azumane deflects, glancing behind him towards the entrance. “I think there’s someone there waiting.”

“Oh!” Hinata curses, throwing back the rest of his mug and putting it in the sink. “I’ll be back for that later, don’t let Daichi-san clean it!” Hinata says over his shoulder as he runs out the room. 

“There’s not actually anyone there,” Azumane says. “You just seemed like you were uncomfortable.”

“I—” Aone starts, but stops to think. It was a little embarrassing, yes, but Aone could’ve left at any time; it’s not like Hinata could stop him. Besides, it wasn’t like Aone didn’t like hanging out with Hinata. He was interesting and didn’t mind that Aone didn’t answer verbally. 

Azumane hums curiously but doesn’t comment on it as he fills his cup. He takes a sip and smiles. “Ah, much better.” He leans against the counter with his cup clutched protectively to his chest, eyes fluttering closed as he savors the taste. For some reason, Aone feels like he’s intruding, but when he tries to leave Azumane gestures for him to stay. “Say, Aone-kun, has anyone mentioned the Sunshine Curse here to you yet?”

Aone furrows his forehead, trying to recall if that phrase has come up since he started working. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard it. 

“It’s a phenomenon we coined between some of the senior members here. Every time we get a new employee for the company, they tend to fall for Hinata’s clumsiness and Koushi’s face. Especially his face. They’re both just too refreshing for their own good,” Azumane groans.

“Oh.” Aone isn’t sure what else he could say to that. He understands from tv shows how one could fall for clumsy people, and Sugawara is very good looking by society’s standards. What he doesn’t understand is why Azumane’s telling him this now. 

“Make sure to watch out for yourself, okay? I like you, and I’d hate for you to leave because of a broken heart.”

Azumane leaves with a full cup, but Aone sticks behind, trying to puzzle through Azumane’s message. He didn’t like either of them, so???

* * *

April arrives, along with warmer weather. Aone starts to leave his winter coat behind, trading it out for his lighter spring jacket. Even this, he thinks, won’t last too long: the forecast calls for even higher temperatures as the week progresses, and he’s sure he’ll be able to just start coming in his suit jacket soon. 

Even the office seems to have gained a spring in its step from the good weather. There’s more chatter around him compared to normal, and new desk plants keep cropping up every day, towering over cubicles and partitions. Aone looks at his bare desk, wondering if he should bring in one of his plants from home to liven up his area. They’re really small, succulents so that they’re easy to take care of, but maybe it’ll help make the spot feel more like his, instead of a temporary spot that he might lose. 

As he’s researching ideal low-maintenance plants on his phone, he sees Hinata come over out of the corner of his eye. Putting his phone down, he waves, only to be surprised when a flyer is pushed into his hand. 

“Good morning, Aone-kun! I have a favor to ask!” Hinata jumps into a bow, clapping his hands together through the stack of flyers. “Please help me out with the Hanami party this year!”

Aone’s face falls into a confused expression. He looks at Hinata, then he shifts his gaze to the flyer in his hand. 

**ANNUAL COMPANY HANAMI PICNIC FRIDAY 6 PM**

“Oh, it is that time of year, huh," Sugawara comments from over Aone’s shoulder, having rolled over to see what all the fuss was about. “I was wondering when we’d end up picking a date for that. Could it be...” Sugawara smiles brightly, but his eyes don’t match. “...That you forgot until now and got reamed by upper management?”

Hinata lets out a small screech, body jolting from the force. Still, he keeps his head down and arms up. “It’s not that I forgot! I just—I got busy with all the clients!”

Sugawara hums, resting an arm on Aone’s shoulders. “Would you believe this happens every year, Aone-kun? Hinata always forgets until the last minute, then has to scramble to find someone kind enough to sit with him all day to hold the spot for everyone else. It’s so sad,” Sugawara says, not sounding sorry at all. With every word, Hinata seems to droop further and further, until he’s basically on the ground with his elbows propping him up. 

“So what do you think, Aone-kun, will you help Hinata?” Sugawara asks.

Aone looks down at Hinata’s prostrate form. It’s not like he has important work that only he can do right now, he’s still in his learning phase after all. And if it can help out his friend from having to do this to everyone in the office, he doesn’t mind helping.

“I’ll do it.”

Hinata whips his head up from the ground. “Really?!?!!? Oh man, thank you Aone-kun! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate it so much! I’ll make it up to you however I can!”

Aone shakes his head, embarrassment welling up to his cheeks in the form of a flush. It’s the least he can do; no need for Hinata to do that. 

Hinata smiles happily, jumping to his feet with little effort. “Thank you again, Aone-kun! I have to pass out the rest of these flyers, but let’s talk about the details later, okay?” He gives one more quick bow, then disappears almost as fast as he appeared. 

Sugawara watches him for a second, then looks at Aone with... Is that pity? “Hope you enjoy waking up at five am, because that’s going to be your Friday.”

Wait, what?

Hinata comes back later in the day to give Aone the rundown, and as Sugawara warned, Hinata tells him that they’ll have to meet at five in the morning. 

“I’m so sorry!” Hinata says, bowing his head once again. “It’s the only time that guarantees we’ll get a good spot for everyone. I’d do it myself, but the one time I did that they didn’t believe that I was an adult and made me go home…”

Aone covers his mouth to hide his amusement. Hinata can’t ever seem to catch a break, huh. He tells Hinata it’s not a problem, then the two of them exchange numbers so it’s easy to find each other the day of. 

Aone wakes up at four in the morning on Friday and drags himself to the bathroom for a quick shower. He puts on his suit like Hinata told him to do, then he goes to catch the first train of the morning to their hanami spot. It’s farther than the office, about a twenty-minute trip on the train and a ten-minute walk to the park. While he’s sitting, Aone vaguely remembers hearing a buzz while brushing his teeth, so he pulls out his phone to check. 

**From:** Hinata Shouyou  
**4:10 am**  
_Aone-kun good morning! I found a really good spot around the southern part of the park, so I put the tarp and blankets down! Let me know when you get here and I’ll come to meet you by uhhhh….if you follow the path you’ll eventually pass by, so I’ll keep a lookout for you!_

Aone nods before realizing that Hinata’s not there to see it, so he quickly types back that he’s on the train before putting his phone away. He surreptitiously looks around to see if anyone else caught his blunder, but the few people on the train are either sleeping or engrossed in their morning activities. 

When he reaches his stop and, eventually, the park, Aone follows the path as Hinata instructed. He takes it leisurely, enjoying the fresh air and blooming trees. It’s so beautiful and peaceful, and whatever anxieties Aone had on his mind drifted away, caught on the breeze like the flower petals. He wasn’t sure how this day was going to go with holding a spot for over twelve hours, but with this view? It'll probably be manageable.

He hears a shout from far off, and he pauses in place to find the source. With all the soft pastels of pink dotting the area, it’s easy to see the stark red blip coming his way. He waits, crossing his arms with a small smile as Hinata hops over the small guardrails on the sides of the path and skitters to a stop in front of Aone.

“Hey, you made it!” Hinata greets with a wave.

“I thought we were meeting at five,” Aone says jokingly. 

  
_Art by Lyn_

Hinata rubs the back of his head with a laugh. “I know, but I got antsy, so I rode my bike down! Thankfully everything fit in my bag and I didn’t have to bring the drinks and stuff. Oh, let me show you where I put everything!”

Aone follows Hinata over the guardrail, stepping into the thankfully dry grass. They head to the only tarp down in the grass, with 5 colorful picnic blankets dotting the blue landscape. He has to admit, this is a really good spot. They’re surrounded by quite a few trees which will give them a nice amount of cover from the sun, and they’re close to the exit, which will make it easier when the picnic is over. He says as much to Hinata, who grins and gives him a peace sign. 

“I do this every year, so I’m a pro at it now!” 

Chuckling, Aone takes a seat on one of the blankets close to a tree. Hinata takes a seat beside him and tosses his bag on the ground in front of them. “Snacks! For when we get hungry! Now let’s! Get to know each other, Aone-kun! For example, tell me about your family!”

Aone tells Hinata about his father, a salaryman who works in health care sales, and his mother, who stays at home to watch the family. He also talks about his siblings, fraternal twins that both started high school this year. Hinata’s face lights up at that, so Aone shows him a picture.

“Oh my god, is having no eyebrows a thing that runs in your family?” Hinata wheezes. “They both look really cute though! I have a little sister too, check it out!”

Hinata shows Aone a picture of a younger girl, close to his sibling’s age he thinks, with the same wild hair that Hinata has. She’s very cute, and Aone tells Hinata that much. To think that they’re both older siblings; what a great thing to have in common. 

They keep on that topic for a bit, sharing in the pride and shortcomings of being the eldest sibling. Hinata’s sister, according to him, while the love of his life and the best sister ever, is bratty and constantly teases him about his height since she’s taller than him now. Aone can relate; his brother loves to steal snacks and blame Aone, and his sister has an unfortunate habit of knocking things down while rough-housing, which, of course, comes back to Aone.

After that, they cycle through other topics, like hobbies and so on. Hinata, unsurprisingly, likes volleyball and volleyball related things but also has a hobby of bike riding. Apparently, in high school, he would bike from his family home in the mountains to the school building, and now he was just so used to biking that he rode it to work and on the weekends. In contrast, Aone tells Hinata about his weekend running and his growing plant collection. Hinata laughs at the latter part.

“That sounds so much like you, Aone-kun!”

They talk about volleyball, of course, and that topic goes on for a while. Aone describes his high school team, the iron wall of Datekou, and some of his old teammates, like his best friend Futakuchi. Hinata is amazed by the iron wall and laments over not being able to go against it. His high school didn’t have much of a strength in anything except being chaotic, and Hinata, while a destructive force of his own, didn’t get too many chances to compete seriously. To Aone, it seems like Hinata had a good experience, especially since he was able to interact with so many people he met in those three years and even be able to work in the same office as them.

When the conversation dulls, they switch to watching videos on Hinata’s computer. They get caught in a rabbit hole of volleyball videos to nutrition videos until somehow they end up in makeup tutorials.

“Wow, this eyeliner stuff looks complicated! Do you think you could do it, Aone-kun?”

Aone, who was forced to sit and watch hours of makeup videos with his sister once she started going to middle school, gives a shrug. Maybe.

Eventually, the videos get boring to look at too, so Hinata pulls out a stack of cards. “Wanna play War?”

Hinata shuffles the cards and starts dealing them out. About halfway through, he pauses. “Did I just give you a card, or me? Ugh, I’ll just start again.” He gathers all the cards up and shuffles them. However, the same thing happens, and Hinata glares down at the stacks of cards. “Mmm.”

Aone puts his hand out, offering to deal the cards. Hinata hands them over with a scowl. After shuffling yet again, Aone starts to deal out the cards, but now Hinata interrupts him halfway through with a question.

“Hey, did you date anyone in high school? Or college? What kind of girls do you like?”

Aone ignores the question for the moment as he passes out the rest of the cards, but he thinks about it anyway. He did date one person in college after they asked him out, but it barely lasted a week. She was nice, but Aone didn’t feel any attraction to her so he ended it before she could get too hurt. Actually, he’s never felt that way about anyone, he doesn’t think. He’s always had strong friend bonds, but never the feeling that he’d want to date anyone. He has a feeling that maybe he’s gay, but that’s not something he can really say outright out of nowhere. “I’m not interested,” Aone says after he finishes with his task, hoping that’s enough. 

“Oh!” Hinata’s expression turns sheepish, and he puts out a hand to apologize. “My bad. Let’s play?”

They play a few rounds of War, before moving onto Go fish, then a dreadful round of two of Poker where Aone wipes the floor with Hinata. The problem is Aone’s entire existence leads to a perfect poker face, and unfortunately, Hinata’s does not. Every good hand was a smug expression, every bad hand was like a dejected one; Aone just couldn’t take advantage of Hinata like that. 

Finally, after they exhausted all their other options and resorted to Shiritori of all things, six o’clock finally came, and with that the rest of their coworkers. Azumane is the first to spot them, but Bokuto is the first to reach, barrelling Hinata over with an enthusiastic hello. Sugawara huffs at the scene, then he sits down next to Aone. “You did it!” He says, patting Aone affectionately on his shoulder. “Just what I’d expect from my cool kouhai. Did Hinata bully you?”

Aone shakes his head; he’s pretty sure Hinata doesn’t have a bully bone in his body. “It was fine, we chatted and passed the time. I think we became more friendly.”

“Good, I’m glad you had a good time! And here’s your prize!” Sugawara brandishes a thin plastic bag from his side excitedly. “Sake! Let’s drink and enjoy the flowers!”

Aone eats more sweets than he probably should and doesn’t get as much sake due to Sugawara hogging it all, but the picnic is fun and he enjoys himself. When the picnic is over, he heads out with everyone else to the train, and as he’s boarding, his phone buzzes. He waits until he has a good grip on the handle before pulling out his phone.

 **From:** Hinata Shouyou  
**9:56 PM**  
_Thank you again for hanging out with me all day! Let's hang out again soon!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As said before, you can find Lyn's wonderful work here: https://twitter.com/ixcarus_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Did you enjoy yourself? Consider letting me know with a kudos and/or comment!
> 
> If you'd like to follow me on other social media, you can find me on [ twitter ](https://twitter.com/SesuRescue), and you can find everywhere else I am on my [ carrd ](https://mezzosesu.carrd.co/)


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